At best, it was a blip in the major media, and was not spelled out well even in the WaPo article. Details apparently are still unrevealed, possibly due to the fact that both countries have to ratify the agreement (with further debate), and there is significant pushback, even threats from Hezbollah and the Israel right. What is obvious is that it would be a major security and economic boon for both countries.
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This agreement is getting almost no press and that’s disturbing.
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Republicans don’t care. Hypocrisy is like a superpower to them.
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We have a little more than a couple of weeks til Election Day and I am more disapproving of our messaging and coordination of Democratic competency and beneficial work at all levels than “complaining about the media”.
We all know about the dearth of positive spin for Democrats. But when confronted with difficulty, the adult tactics should be to work around it by using what assets one has.
This is not a country with totalitarian censorship banning information dissemination. If “the media” cannot be worked with, I am sure there are more “media” than one would think in other organizations and venue.
Long ago Dems should have crafted a communication strategy that would have people with mike, pad and pencil coming and looking to see what we have to say.
OT …in a way, that’s what FDR’s Fireside Chats were all about: generate interest in us as a President and a Party
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It is; it most definitely is, particularly combined with a total lack of shame. Say whatever you need to, to “seal the deal.” If it’s the opposite of what you said 10 minutes ago, too bad. Who’s gonna call you on it, the “Librul Meedia”? Not hardly; they’re too afraid of being called “liberal.”
Then, in the immortal words of convicted felon Steve Bannon, combine this with “Flood the zone with s**t”. Spew out so many lies, so fast, that it would take an hour to address each one, or a couple of full pages, ad-free, of newsprint. No matter what the opposition does, some will slip through! And you can keep repeating the same lies over and over and over again, even if debunked, and they still work!
Democrats are handicapped – and seriously, we wouldn’t have it any other way – by sticking to the truth and their principles. Like the song says, “Only the good die young.”
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Goes for their base as well. They cheer that shit on.
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Great Post
Salesmanship is actually a thing and long ago we should have looked into messaging our Good Works as a separate segment of what we do.
That last BBB Bill (2.0) that we got Manchin to sign on for was touted as a grand piece of legislation.
The “segment of what we do” would have been all over that
This is the Information Age
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I remember reading a report that former PM Ariel Sharon tried to talk Bush Jr. out of invading Iraq. He reportedly cited three reasons:
- It would destabilize the entire region;
- It would tilt the regional balance of power toward Iran, and
- Much of the world, and most of Israel’s adversaries, would blame undue Israeli influence on the US for the invasion.
We can now see that Sharon was right. And he was no peacenik.
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The Republicans overtures to Israel are more about courting the votes of evangelical Christians than Jewish Americans.
Many evangelicals believe that Christ will return in their lifetimes, and see Middle East turbulence and warfare as the divine fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
They are not bothered by conflict in that region, but rather welcome it; they feel they will be among the chosen who will cheat death and ascend to heaven with the rest of the righteous in the Rapture — which actually has no biblical basis.
American evangelicals number 50 -100 million and represent a sizable voting bloc that reliably votes Republican.
In contrast, American Jews, who represent a scant two percent of the voting public, overwhelmingly vote Democrat and are deeply divided by Israeli policy.
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She is a Dean at a wingnut college, believe it or not
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There was some coverage last week. I remember reading a story.
Yes, i think there is some natural gas deposits offshore that both countries would profit from.
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When talking about Evangelicals you need to distinguish “White” from “Black” as most Blacks are Evangelical Christians but, at least from my experience and without getting into the details is very detailed (my wife’s family) when it comes to Black churches including relatives who are Evangelical Minsters, I have never heard them discuss Armageddon.
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Yes, good point. I meant white evangelicals.
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While I don’t remember where I heard what you posted, I do remember hearing the same thing- Evangelicals are pro-Israel because they believe God is returning in their life times and it will be as the New Testament states. I guess there’s a bit of a split in how, but there will be a consequential war in the Middle East with Jews being sacrificed (or converting) during the rapture and God returning Israel to it’s former glory, followed by God’s physical return to Earth. That’s the extent of my knowledge about Endtimes Prophesy.
Evangelicals support Israel for selfish reasons.
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Grump’s recent anti-Jew “trut” likely was in response to this Lebanon-Israel maritime deal.
Stupidily, Grump gave more media gas to this low-media deal than just ignoring it.
Well done, Grump, you flaming idiot.
BTW, the ADL called the Grump trut “insulting and disgusting," and “a threat.”
100-year old and still lucid Norman Lear (who flew 52 combat missions in WWII) called the Grump trut “appalling”
Today, having recently turned 100, I read Donald Trump’s appalling words about American Jews, and I am nine years old again. The phrase, a horse’s ass, was an everyday expression when I was nine and it occurs to me again now. 3/3
— Norman Lear (@TheNormanLear) October 18, 2022
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This article appears to miss the real reason Republicans ‘support’ Israel: the far right evangelicals believe Israel will help usher in the end times and they want the world to end according to biblical prophecy. They are in no way supportive of Jews - they believe the Jewish people collectively bear sin for killing the savior and therefore will all go to hell. Again, their only interest is in propping up Israel to usher in the end times. Republicans will of course be willing to take Jewish votes but that’s all secondary to the main objective of evangelical whites.
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Indeed. You’d think that they’d might also consider that this agreement is also better for the US when it comes to stability in the region. The logical conclusion would be that the current GQP policy isn’t really for stability in the area bordering Israel.
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Yes, the audience for this nightmarish scenario believes in the inerrancy of biblical prophecy, and they see saber-rattling escalations in the Middle East as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
Tens of millions of American conservatives believe that Jesus will return to Earth soon.
They cheered when Republicans castigated opponents of the war in Iraq as “surrender monkeys,”
They reflexively opposed the Iran nuclear deal and cheered when then-House Speaker Boehner welcomed PM Netanyahu to address Congress without notifying the White House – an unprecedented breach of protocol – which sought to make patriotic American Jews needlessly question our bipartisan support for the State of Israel.
They cheered the movement of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Trump’s recognition of a united Jerusalem— the “City of Peace” - as Israel’s capital, because biblical prophecy says Israel must be united in order for Jesus to return.
There already are building plans for the reconstruction of the third and final Temple of Israel on the holy site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock, and vestments for the Temple have already been designed.
Some say the prophesied Red Heifer has already made its appearance (and through an electoral college mishap sat as president of the United States from 2017-2021.)
And they heralded Trump as Cyrus, who defeated Babylon and liberated the Israelites from captivity— and who some Israelites of that time celebrated and revered as the Messiah — and say he will usher in the End Times and the return of Jesus.
They have already minted gold coins conflating Trump with Cyrus.
And they believe in the Rapture, which tells them the righteous will not suffer physical death but will ascend to heaven, while the wicked endure the tribulation and the final battle of good against evil between Jesus and the forces of the antichrist.
Because to them the certainty of an imminent global catastrophe on a biblical scale is preferable to the uncertainty of living in a changing world that challenges their assumptions and perceived position of privilege.
And their response to this cognitive dissonance and world-weariness is this conversion by crisis, this baptism by fire, with all the psychological qualities of a suicide cult.
The only difference: in their supreme arrogance they think that only they the righteous, and their fellow believers, will be able to cheat death, while we, their perceived opponents, will be forced to endure the hell on earth that they have prepared for us.
But for the true believers, that is an acceptable level of collateral damage.
And no, I don’t mean the Jewish Zionists, but the Christian Zionists, who are far more dangerous because of their fanatical apocalyptic beliefs.
To the Jewish people, with their tragic history, the state of Israel is a long-awaited and hard-fought safe haven and refuge in a hostile and dangerous world.
To the millenarian Christian Zionists, the establishment of the state of Israel marks the countdown to the End Times and the final battle between good and evil.
So, for the Jewish people, Israel is a safe haven where they can live their faith freely.
For Christian Zionists, Israel is a harbinger of the imminent, welcome and richly deserved destruction of a world too wicked to be saved.
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Correct, they reflexively rejected the Iran nuclear agreement even though its rejection means an almost inevitable slide to war and further escalation and instability, as evidenced by the unprovoked assassination of an Iranian government official and a massive arms buildup in the Gulf states by Trump that did not even go through Congress.
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